Liquid crystal displays (LCDs) are one of the more widely used types of flat panel display devices. An LCD includes two transparent substrates provided with field-generating electrodes (i.e., a pixel electrode and a common electrode) and a liquid crystal (LC) layer interposed therebetween. The LCD displays images by applying voltages to the field-generating electrodes to generate an electric field in the LC layer, which controls the orientation of the LC molecules in the LC layer to effect the polarization of light passing through the layer.
LCDs can be categorized as operating in a “transmissive mode,” a “reflective mode,” or a “transflective mode”, depending on the source of light used by the LC layer to form an image. The transmissive mode LCDs employ light supplied by an internal source, such as a “backlight” assembly contained in the display. The reflective mode LCDs use light supplied by an external source, i.e., ambient light, such as sunlight, or ambient room lighting, as the light source. The transflective mode LCD operates in the reflective mode when the ambient light is sufficient to provide a useful display image and in the transmissive mode when the ambient light is not sufficient to provide a useful image. Therefore, the transflective mode LCD has low power consumption and may be used in low light environments.
The transflective mode LCD and the reflective mode LCD have a reflective film with an uneven and dimpled surface to reflect external light. Generally, the uneven and dimpled surface of the reflective film is formed by underlying reflective patterns formed of a photo-sensitive organic material with low molecular weight. The reflective patterns are formed by coating the photo sensitive organic material, exposing the coated material to light, and then developing the exposed material to light (i.e. photo lithography). However, the reflective patterns may be deformed by the exposure process, e.g., material crosslinking, and by the developing process. Also, the fluidity of the organic material impedes the formation of flat surface between reflective patterns, thereby causing reflected light to interfere between reflective patterns and reduce reflectivity. Furthermore, forming the reflective patterns typically requires multiple photo lithography process steps, which increases manufacturing cost and time.
Therefore, there is a need for LCDs that have improved light reflectance and a method manufacturing thereof.